Towers of Midnight/Chapter 20
Summary Rosil instructs Nynaeve al'Meara on non-spoken rules of the ceremony as they walk towards the test Nynaeve will take to determine if she is worthy to be an Aes Sedai. She instructs Nynaeve to move her ring to the position where an Accepted would keep theirs. Nynaeve refuses, insisting that it would undermine the Amyrlin's earlier declaration that she was already Aes Sedai. Nynaeve arrives in the testing room, where she notices the large ter'angreal used for the testing. She also notices that the testers were all Sitters, which is unusual of a typical Aes Sedai raising ceremony. The testers are Saerin Asnobar, Seaine Herimon, Rubinde Yukiri, Barasine, Lelaine Akashi and Romanda Cassin. Egwene al'Vere is also there, however, she has no say in whether Nynaeve is raised or not. Nynaeve breaks ceremony by changing the proper responses slightly to fit with the fact that she has already been raised to Aes Sedai, which earns gasps from many of the testers. A weave is placed upon Nynaeve to allow her to remember the basic rules of the ceremony while she is in the ter'angreal. She removes her clothes so she wears only bare skin and enters into the ter'angreal. She doesn't remember why she is there, and blushes at the fact that she is naked. She takes a robe from a clothes line and puts it on. Suddenly, there is an earthquake. She walks over to the point where she must channel the proper weave in order to move on and walks through the gateway. She again doesn't remember why she is where she is. She is in a cave. She walks out of the cave to see that she is in the Aiel Waste. The heat pounds on her, when when she notices Trollocs coming. They look strange to her, unlike ones she had seen before. She is irritated that she is forced to keep walking, not being able to run. She reaches the point where she can channel, and splits her weaves into fire to fend off the Trollocs and other weaves to create the gateway. She completes the required weave and walks through the gateway. She completes her forty-seventh weave. She is exhausted. She is irritated at whoever is doing something to her. She makes it through another room that contains a swarm of flies. In the next room, there are sick children she is forced to ignore. It hurts her to have to do it. The next rooms were even worse. She was forced to leave people to be drowned, beheaded, and buried alive. She enters a scenario where she is forced to abandon the Two Rivers folk in order to properly proceed. She, however, decides that she is tired of all these stupid rules. She channels in order to aid the Two Rivers folk, with a bit of difficulty embracing the Source. She then moves on. After completing ninety-nine weaves, she enters the final room she must clear. In it Lan is being attacked by Darkhounds. Nynaeve uses balefire on the Darkhounds and tells Lan to run with her through the gateway. She runs through the gateway and passes back out of the ter'angreal and curls up onto the floor and is in tears. She is healed and Saerin demands an explanation of why Nynaeve was put through such difficult tests. Rubinde replies that it was to test her properly. Barasine states that Nynaeve has failed. Nynaeve is shocked. Barasine replies that Nynaeve did not show proper decorum. Nynaeve states that she only acted as she felt right and kept a cool head throughout, which is all that should be required of an Aes Sedai. The Aes Sedai discuss the testing while Nynaeve sits in a corner. Egwene explains that Nynaeve shouldn't have been able to break the rules of the test. She believes that Nynaeve was only able to due to her experience with Tel'aran'rhiod. Nynaeve deduces that Egwene was responsible for the Two Rivers portion of the test. Nynaeve realizes that she would rather keep Lan alive than be an Aes Sedai, if forced to choose between the two. Nynaeve explains to Egwene that because most Aes Sedai don't marry, they detach themselves from the world and become arrogant. The Aes Sedai finish their discussion and walk towards Nynaeve. Saerin demands that Nynaeve swear on the Oath Rod to never use balefire again. Nynaeve refuses, stating that it would be foolish to make a promise like that because she may need it when she goes to Shayol Ghul with Rand. Four sitters vote to raise her, and three vote to not raise her. She passes her raising, barely. Before continuing on with the ceremony she wishes to do something first. She Travels to the ground outside the Black Tower and enters the tent belong to Myrelle Berengari. She demands that Myrelle transfer Lan's bond to her. Myrelle does so and retreats back into her tent. Characters *Nynaeve al'Meara *Rosil *Egwene al'Vere *Saerin Asnobar *Romanda Cassin *Lelaine Akashi *Barasine *Yukiri *Seaine Herimon *Rubinde *Myrelle Berengari *Nuhel Dromand Appears in Testing *Perrin Aybara *Bran al'Vere *Mistress al'Donel *Aeric Botteger possibly imagined in testing Referenced *Rand al'Thor *Moghedien *Niere *Meramor *Lan Mandragoran Groups *Aes Sedai *Two Rivers Folk Referenced *Aiel Places *The White Tower in Tar Valon *Aiel Waste *Outside the Black Tower Referenced *Shayol Ghul *The Black Tower *Two Rivers *Malkier Events *An Aes Sedai raising ceremony *Tarmon Gai'don Items *Oval ring - the raising ter'angreal *Golden Crane signet ring Referenced *The Oath Rod